Stress Upon Stress

Being in a military family means an unspoken agreement to live under constant stress the likes of which most “normal” families have trouble imagining.

We get used to it and it becomes, generally speaking, our “normal.” It ebbs and tides, but for the most part we know how to deal and do so quite well.

The problem comes when we get extra stress in our lives – family stress, financial stress, relational stress – and then the scales tip and it is so hard to keep the whole thing from crumbling.

Take me, for example. Deployment? No problem. Long TDYs? Another day at the park. My family in Idaho imploding as I watch with disbelief from Kentucky? ***KABOOM*** (<--- the sound of my head exploding … and the reason I’ve been scarce for a few weeks).

When it comes to the stress of military life we have become experts on some level. But how do you handle the other stuff, especially from across the country?